Chapter 69: Off the Record

"I officially took a week off, so any training I give you during that time will be off the record," Ilya told Summer first thing in the morning after she woke up.

"But that’s actually a good thing. Once your official rank is announced and you start proper training, you’ll already have some experience."

Summer was still yawning because the sun had barely come up.

Last night, Ilya had told her that it would be better if they left for Zone 18 early so they could enjoy the fresh morning air.

Honestly, Summer thought they could leave two hours later and still make it. They could just ride Archer and get there in seconds anyway.

"Yeah, that sounds great," Summer replied sleepily. Her eyes were already closing again even though she was still standing.

"Summer, where’s your bag?" Ilya asked. His voice pulled her out of the short dream she was about to fall into.

"What?" Summer stretched her arms and tried her best to wake herself up. "My bag? This is my bag." 𝔣𝖗ⅇℯ

She pointed at the small travel bag she had found in Ilya’s bedroom last night.

And just to be clear, she had slept by herself. Ilya and Archer had slept in the other room. They could have gone back to their own apartments, but since they were leaving early in the morning, there was really no point.

Ilya looked at the bag, then back at her. "Summer, that looks almost empty," he said. "We’re going away for a whole week. Are you seriously planning to wear my hoodie and shorts the entire time?"

Summer sighed. "I don’t have any other clothes. Don’t be so stingy." She added, "I’ll buy new clothes from the online market once we get there."

When Summer first came to Zone 0, she had only brought a few clothes in her backpack because most of her things were still at the old motel.

She also had no interest in going back for the original Summer’s clothes, so she had simply planned to buy new ones later.

She still had a few clothes at the hotel too, but most of them were dirty. The nicer ones had probably been ruined in Zone 41 when she guided Ilya.

"Summer..." Ilya took a slow breath. "You can’t just—" He stopped himself. "Okay, forget it. What kind of clothes do you like?"

Summer raised her eyebrows at the sudden change of topic. "Well, anything that works for both the vacation and training."

"What colors?"

Summer thought about it for a moment. "Maybe white, red, blue, or purple."

"Got it," Ilya said.

He opened his terminal, pulled up the online shop, and started tapping through several items before closing it again.

Summer stared at him. "What are you doing?"

Ilya hadn’t even answered her yet when Summer heard the sound of several drones approaching the apartment window.

Ilya opened it, and several delivery drones flew inside, each carrying a package.

"I hope these are your style," Ilya said as he looked at the boxes now sitting on the floor.

Summer stared at the boxes for a few seconds before slowly turning toward Ilya. "You bought all of these just now?"

Ilya nodded as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "You said you needed clothes."

"I said I would buy them later," Summer said, still looking at him in disbelief.

Ilya had even bought her a new suitcase instead of letting her use the small travel bag.

"Summer, if we can get everything ready before we reach the vacation spot, that’s better," Ilya said.

"He’s not going to stop nagging until you pack properly," Archer said as he came down from the second floor. "Just take it."

Ilya sighed at that. "I wouldn’t have to nag if both of you actually thought about packing before going somewhere far away."

"I already finished mine. Look." Archer placed a black suitcase in front of him. "Happy now?"

Archer had probably told him that he could just go back and forth to his apartment through the teleportation portal, but Ilya clearly did not want that. So he had kept bothering his brother until Archer finally packed his things like a normal person.

"Yes, thank you," Ilya said with clear relief. "See? Was that so hard? Now help her pack while I pack up the food so we won’t have to cook again once we get there."

Summer and Archer were both pretty sure there would be places to buy food in Zone 18 anyway. Still, neither of them wanted to annoy Ilya any more than they already had, so they decided not to argue.

"The government really let you take a few days off?" Summer asked as Archer opened the packages one by one.

"I just told them I was unstable and needed some rest," Archer replied calmly.

He had not gotten a full week off, but even four days was already pretty surprising, especially since the number of polluted creatures was still high during mating season.

Still, after everything Archer had done lately, it was probably safer for the government to let him take a break than risk having him cause another disaster.

About half an hour later, Summer was finally done packing, although Archer had done most of the work while she simply pointed out which clothes she wanted to bring.

Ilya had also packed enough food to last them until lunch, so everything was finally ready.

"Ready to go?" Archer asked as he held out his hand to Summer, clearly expecting her to take it before they stepped through the teleportation portal.

Summer was almost completely sure they did not actually need to hold hands for this.

Still, she took his hand anyway.

Behind them, Ilya carried Summer’s suitcase and rolled his eyes when he noticed Archer’s obvious excuse to hold her hand.

"Yes!" Summer answered happily.

After all, this was the first time she had ever gone on something that could actually be called a vacation, even if training was also part of it.

A moment later, Archer opened the portal. The second Summer stepped through, she froze.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the view in front of her. "This place is beautiful..." she murmured softly.